Foraging & Feasting: A Field Guide and Wild Food Cookbook written by Dina Falconi and illustrated by Wendy Hollender celebrates our local bounty and traditional foodways. Featuring beautiful, instructive botanical illustrations and delicious, enlightening recipes, Dina and Wendy share a long commitment to connecting with nature through food and art. This effort weaves together Dina’s 30 years of passionate investigations into wild-​​plant identification, foraging and cooking with Wendy’s deft artistic skills honed over 15 years as a botanical illustrator. For the past three years they have been writing, drawing, designing and testing the recipes for this book. The result is an abundance of recipes and illustrations that celebrate wild plants and creative ways to bring them into our lives.

They are self-​​publishing the book and wish to pre-​​sell copies now to help them pay for production and printing costs! (Estimated time of completion: June 2013) Foraging offers an adventurous and satisfying way to eat locally and seasonally. This book will help readers reclaim the lost art of foraging and become immersed in the “Kitchen Arts.” Readers will be able to identify, harvest, prepare, eat and savor the wild bounty all around them. Surely everyone will appreciate learning to create delicious, nutritious, healthy meals from scratch for a modest amount of money.

On January 25th Dina and Wendy launched their Kickstarter campaign to raise funds. Please visit their website or Kickstarter link to check out this exciting project.

Kickstarter which is a funding platform for creative projects. As a supporter you actually get something for your support. For this project you can pre-​​buy their book or choose from several options including workshops on foraging, botanical drawing, and a wild food dinner.

About the authors:

Dina Falconi is a clinical herbalist with a strong focus on food activism and nutritional healing. She has been teaching classes about the use of herbs for food, medicine, and pleasure, including wild-​​food foraging and cooking, for more than twenty years. She produces Falcon Formulations natural body care products and Earthly Extracts medicinal tinctures. She is a founding member of the Northeast Herbal Association, a chapter leader of the Weston A. Price Foundation and on the board of Slow Food-​​Hudson Valley. An avid gardener and wildcrafter, Dina is passionate about ecological agriculture and has completed the Permaculture Design Certificate Course. She is the author of Earthy Bodies & Heavenly Hair: Natural and Healthy Personal Care for Everybody (Ceres Press, 1998).

L: Dina Falconi, R: Wendy Hollender

Wendy Hollender began a career in botanical illustration after completing a certificate at the New York Botanical Garden in 1998. Previously a home-​​furnishing textile designer, she started WH Art & Design, using her botanical artwork in various products. Her work was included in the 13th International Exhibition at Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, and in exhibitions at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew and the Smithsonian National Museum for Natural History. Hollender’s illustrations have been published in numerous publications such as, The New York Times, “O,” The Oprah Magazine, Real Simple and The Observer (UK).

She has two published books: Botanical Drawing in Color: A Basic Guide to Mastering Realistic Form and Naturalistic Color from Random House, and Botanical Drawing, A Beginner’s Guide.